The creator of the extremely popular anime, “Crayon Shin-chan” was found dead in a mountain range near the border of Gunma Prefecture and Nagano prefecture. He had been missing since September 11th. The body was positively identified as that of Yoshito Usui, who is famous for creating the irreverent and controversial anime based around the adventures of elementary school aged “Shin-chan” and his family. Shin-chan is known for his love of well-endowed young women, and penchant for mooning people.
There are rumors that Usui committed suicide. His cell phone records showed that he wandered around the top of Mount Arafune (Arafune-yama) for some time before finally falling off a cliff to his death. He is thought to have taken a fall from Tomo-iwa, an observation area. Tomo-iwa is written using the characters for friend or friendship and rock.
It is as yet undecided whether the Crayon Shin-chan will continue its weekly broadcast, although the NHK anime Ojaru-Maru continued after the suicide of its creator.
For readers who are unfamiliar with the anime, I have embedded a clip below.